


Somewhere In This Darkness

by lucdarling



Category: Marvel (Movies), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: M/M, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-20
Updated: 2012-01-20
Packaged: 2017-10-29 20:52:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/324058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucdarling/pseuds/lucdarling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Phil Coulson holds it together under pressure. He knows exactly what is on the table, and it's no more than he can handle. Clint will be storming in soon, Phil's confident.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Somewhere In This Darkness

**Author's Note:**

> Written anonymously for [this prompt](http://avengerkink.livejournal.com/1854.html?thread=815422#t815422) on November 19, 2011.

  
_Phil Coulson screams on the second day. He knows there's no shame and very little point in holding it in.  
He smiles for the camera, blood staining his teeth._   


Steve finds the videotape leaning against the door to the Avengers Tower when he returns from his morning run. It's wrapped in brown paper, addressed in neat handwriting to Hawkeye with a small heart curling the tail of the y. Steve takes it inside and sets it on the kitchen table before heading to his room, not giving it another thought. Thor's gone to Asgard for the week and everything is quiet.

  
_They return him to his cell, a corner of the shadowed space. It's a literal cage, just large enough for a human.  
At least it provides distance and he watches the men move in the light, counting weapons and memorizing features._   


  


The Avengers realize something is wrong when Clint shouts. They run to the living room and stand in horror at the images on the screen. Bruce immediately turns away, green washing over his features while the rest stare in silence. Tony is frozen to the spot until Steve touches his elbow gently and the memories of Afghanistan slowly abate. Clint makes a wounded sound as the movie continues, showing the defenseless form of his lover locked behind steel bars. Natasha is on the phone, hissing directives and orders, calling in favors with a sharp tongue. She hangs up mid-sentence and goes to her partner when his legs collapse under him.

  
_The chair creaks under his weight but the restraints are new, strong.  
They pry his mouth open and start with his back teeth.  
Phil tries not choke on blood and spits it in his captor's face instead._   


  


A team of tech analysts pick up the tape and hope rises that they'll find something. Tony heads to his workshop, hacking surveillance cameras as Steve stands behind him and they watch as a delivery boy in uniform drops off the package that started this all. Fury interrogates the frightened employee, who knows nothing except it had been a regular day of work. Natasha and Clint divide their time between his bedroom and the gym, taking out their frustration at getting nowhere on each other and anyone who gets in their way as the clock ticks slowly.

  
_He floats in a world of pain and Phil mourns the loss of nerve endings in between screams as the largest man cracks the belt.  
The words fly from his lips when they pause: his name, his title within S.H.I.E.L.D. and his serial number from his years in the military._   


  


Tony finds the second tape on the seat of his motorcycle when he leaves the Tower for fresh air and coffee that isn't sludge. Fury and Natasha are the only two to view it, leaving the room afterward with blank expressions. Clint looks like a ghost without the agent, skin taut and words brittle whenever he speaks. He doesn't ask to watch the tape but Bruce sees him and Natasha whispering on the couch in the very early morning. His head is in her lap and she's stroking his head, the shadows underneath their eyes so dark they remind Bruce of bruises.

  
_He knows his eyes widen when they show him the row of instruments, all in a neat row on a table.  
They rip two nails and a chunk of his hair out before they smash his left hand.  
Phil sobs, cradling it to his chest when the men herd him back to the cage. He won't tell them what they want to hear._   


  


The third tape provides the clue to Agent Coulson's whereabouts along with latest proof of life. One of the tech analysts identifies the shadow from the window as being from one side of a particular building, which narrows down the possible places. S.H.I.E.L.D. launches an attack on the building under the cover of darkness a day later.

The Hulk smashes through the door and half the wall, artificial light from the floodlight highlighting the men running around like ants underfoot. Iron Man flies in over his shoulder as Captain America and Hawkeye climb over the rubble. The Black Widow leans out of the helicopter, sniper rifle a deadly extension of her body as she picks off anyone who gets too close to the Avengers.

Phil kicks ineffectively at the lock, the hinges of his cage as Hawkeye and Captain America draw near. Two hard tugs on the padlock and the Captain holds the warped metal in his hand. The older man hisses as he crawls awkwardly from the small space and stands, hand held to his chest. Clint's mouth moves but Phil can't begin to understand the words through the fighting, the chopper blades and the ringing in his ears. He takes a step forward and falls into blackness.

Phil wakes and everything is warm, finally. There is a pressure on his right hand and his eyes fly open to check the source. Clint sits at his bedside, tension twisting his body and worry lining his face. His blue eyes are full of shadows and memories that Phil doesn't ask about.

“I didn't tell them anything,” the agent says after they stare at each other in silence for the span of many long heartbeats. His voice is hoarse but he forces the words out despite the daggers in his throat. Clint's thumb sweeps over the back of his hand in lieu of a reply. It's a light touch that does more to ground Phil than the sound of monitors in the background or the soft gown-like material he's wearing underneath the scratchy hospital sheet.

“You up to visitors?” Clint asks softly, looking toward the door. Phil shakes his head, regretting the movement when a rush of dizziness overtakes him. He leans against the pillows as the door opens.

Bruce steps through the door and stops at the foot of the bed, Steve a step behind him. “I'm glad you're safe,” the scientist says. “Clint here was a wreck without you.” Clint glares and Bruce shrugs guilelessly.

Steve takes a seat next to the marksman, laying his hand next to Phil's leg under the blankets. “Fury and Natasha are still searching through the debris for any clues as to who they were working for.”

“They're not going to find anything but dead bodies and we all know that,” Tony's voice interrupts as the man enters the room. He sets a fast food bag on the table, looking directly at Phil. “All I wanted after my escape was a good ol' piece of Americana, figured you could use the same.” Steve smiles softly at him and the billionaire nods rather jerkily at the group before exiting quickly. Bruce follows him out not long after and Steve excuses himself when Phil starts to fall asleep.

The following months of recovery are anything but easy and Phil's left hand often aches with the exercises he's told to do by the physical therapists. The first day back in his office, he dreads the stacks of paperwork that have accumulated. It's a pleasant surprise to see that the multiple forms are mostly filled out with Natasha's small, neat scrawl.

Phil spends time in the gym with Steve and Natasha, sometimes sitting quietly in Bruce's lab silently as the scientist works around him but more often than not, the agent finds a stool in Tony's workshop. The two work with loud rock music blaring in an effort to keep the memories at bay, filling out paperwork and tinkering with metal parts. They don't speak about the newly shared thread linking them together but Phil knows that Tony understands better than anyone.

Clint is careful, almost reverent, the first time they go further than kissing. The lights are bright in their bedroom, burning away the shadows that sometimes gather in Clint's eyes when he catches sight of the pink healing scars on Phil's tanned skin. Phil opens up underneath him, everything slow and easy, a return to normal.

  



End file.
